Now Mosaddek has had an okay debut so far, nothing so far in either format. He averages 64 in FC cricket and his last FC match saw him score a double century.

On the other hand, Sabbir averages sub 30 in all formats, his last FC match saw him score a DUCK. Yes brothers a duck. Also Sabbir isn't a bowling option either

But let us see why Sabbir could be picked:

1) Lanka has some young players. Now Sabbir knows some people in the ground who would help him grab them and beat them up. Match Referee or Umps gonna say anything? He will threaten them by saying: "Apnara kichu korle khobor ase"

2) Sabbir Rahman is better looking. I mean duh that is the reason why over the years we were obsessed with Taskin and overlooked Al Amin. I mean right now Bangladesh can't show that we are good enough to win matches so let us just show that we have good looking gentlemen

3) The eyes: Sabbir's eyes have special power to make the batsman feel distracted

Even though I will pick Mosaddek over Sabbir in a test team, I think slectors favored a quick scorer in a dust bowl as it is unlikely that batsmen can grind in and score a big ton. a quick 50 from Sabbir can tilt the result in our favor. + good fielding , especially at slip might have been considered (as we missed a few at slips in CTG)

Originally Posted by uhv
Even though I will pick Mosaddek over Sabbir in a test team, I think slectors favored a quick scorer in a dust bowl as it is unlikely that batsmen can grind in and score a big ton. a quick 50 from Sabbir can tilt the result in our favor. + good fielding , especially at slip might have been considered (as we missed a few at slips in CTG)

Good point. Only weakness in your logic is Sabbir is not capable of scoring a 50 on this wicket.

Originally Posted by uhv
Even though I will pick Mosaddek over Sabbir in a test team, I think slectors favored a quick scorer in a dust bowl as it is unlikely that batsmen can grind in and score a big ton. a quick 50 from Sabbir can tilt the result in our favor. + good fielding , especially at slip might have been considered (as we missed a few at slips in CTG)

You do realize that Mosaddek is someone who has scored big runs in such pitches right? And that he is a far better player of spin than Sabbir?

Sabbir is a hit or miss and even if he hits he can score max 30 runs. Mosaddek can score 50+ easily.

In the first test match, he came to bat with Bangladesh in a difficult spot but he supported Shakib well and Bangladesh went on to score 467 on a sporty wicket and took 130 run lead over Lanka. Mosaddek himself scored 75 from 160 something deliveries and guess what Dean Jones and Roshan Abheysinghe said, Mosaddek is good enough to bat as a top order batsman. He has the maturity to bat up the order. He literally smashed Herath over extra cover for 6, how many batsman in test cricket have done that against Herath in his debut match? He would have got a century if he had support but he was losing out on partners and became the last wicket to fall.

In his 2nd test Mosaddek played one rash shot in both innings combined, and he suddenly has to make his way for a pretender who averages 26 in Tests and doesn't bowl.

Before I used to think Haturi was the big genius behind everything, but not it looks like the senior players and team management has some people who don't understand the C of cricket.

Might I also add that Mosaddek in the last match in the 2nd innings came into the wicket at a tricky situation where we hardly had a lead but he scored an unbeaten 8* from 53. If he was out early we would have collapsed and Lanka would have chased down whatever lead we had easily.

I could say that Mosaddek played a match winning innings on foreign turf. He also played a calm knock to salvage a draw for Bangladesh. All that in 2 tests. The fact that Sabbir's biggest achievement is that he was able to beat up a little kid is a testament to what he is capable of.

I don't know why the selectors would think mosaddek can't score quick runs. He has done it several times in the domestic matches. He returned to test after a long time. He wasn't part of the odi team. He was supposed to get a longer run in tests.

Originally Posted by MHRAM
Mosaddek has played 2 tests in his career so far.

In the first test match, he came to bat with Bangladesh in a difficult spot but he supported Shakib well and Bangladesh went on to score 467 on a sporty wicket and took 130 run lead over Lanka. Mosaddek himself scored 75 from 160 something deliveries and guess what Dean Jones and Roshan Abheysinghe said, Mosaddek is good enough to bat as a top order batsman. He has the maturity to bat up the order. He literally smashed Herath over extra cover for 6, how many batsman in test cricket have done that against Herath in his debut match? He would have got a century if he had support but he was losing out on partners and became the last wicket to fall.

In his 2nd test Mosaddek played one rash shot in both innings combined, and he suddenly has to make his way for a pretender who averages 26 in Tests and doesn't bowl.

Before I used to think Haturi was the big genius behind everything, but not it looks like the senior players and team management has some people who don't understand the C of cricket.

Let's not forget the second innings of that first test, yh he didn't score much, but he's the one who came and took control and released pressure, Mushfiqur got himself in a hole like today and it was matter of fine before he got out and we collapsed to a loss, Mosaddek knew it, so he took over as soon he got in, Eventhough he got out cheap, mushfiq stopped suffocating at the other end by the time mossadek got out

I've been a big critic of him in ODI cricket, he's not good enough yet, certainly not down the order, but he should definitely be in the test team, especially now with no Shakib

3. After playing 110 Test innings, I was expecting a better average from Mushfiq, who is often claimed as the best batsman in our team by his fans.

4. Nasir's average is not bad, but his current form is the concern. So I would stay away from him for now.

5. Riyad's average is not bad but not good also, I was expecting much better average from him after playing 68 innings. With this average, he is easily replaceable.

6. Sabbir Played similar number of innings but SS has higher average. The position Sabbir plays has other better options, whereas SS (if in form) can be an upgrade over Imrul. I know why SS was dropped, and don't disagree. but once he gets his form/confidence back, he should be tired again. I am a SS fan, but I have to say after playing 19 Innings, I was expecting better average from him.

7. It makes no sense why Mossadek was dropped in favor of Sabbir. He just played 4 innings and still have an average of 34. He is part of our future. Why drop him now?

8. Now that Abul is bowling a little better, may be its time to think about Abul ( test average 82.50 after playing 5 innings). He can provide balance ( spinner vs fast bowler), and he is not a bad batsman at all. He started his career as a batsman. He can be an insurance policy when our batsman fails. Why not use his strength to our benefit?

9. Litton has an ok average right now ( 31.63 after playing 11 Innings), but the way he is playing right now, we need to stick with him longer... I have no doubt that he will increase his average pretty soon. Only Stupid will drop him (from the team) right now.

10. Kind of disappointed with Miraj's batting. After playing 21 innings, his average should be in the 30s not 16. Only good thing is he is an all-rounder and he is batting better currently. So we need to stick with him a little longer and see how he progress.

11. We haven't tried enough of Nurul and Shanto. We need to find a way to give them some chance in near future... and that means giving rest to some of the non essential players (seniors and juniors). We need to keep in mind, some of these players are part of our future and we need to figure it out who is for real and who is fake in the highest level. You can only find out after giving them enough chance...some with start with a bang... but others with struggle and get better over time .... you need to try them enough to find out if they are learning from their mistakes and improving or not.

12. No comment about Anamul. Very bad average. but he didn't played long enough. This is not the time to try him in TEST. let him concentrate and re-establish in limited over first.

Originally Posted by Tausif
^You haven't mentioned Imrul. Batting average of 26 after 64 innings is just bad for an opening batsman. I would rather give SS a shot there or bring Shanto. Imrul is not the long term solution.

Originally Posted by Tausif
^You haven't mentioned Imrul. Batting average of 26 after 64 innings is just bad for an opening batsman. I would rather give SS a shot there or bring Shanto. Imrul is not the long term solution.

1) If anyone still wondering why Mushfiq is considered one of the top batsman in the current team, either he has not been following Bangladesh team closely enough or just can't overcome his own illogical personal bias.

2) Granted Imrul is a stop gap solution, but so far he has been more consistent than SS. SS' struggle in our dudhvat FC leagues does not give any hope that he will suddenly improve one day either. If we're looking for long term replacement for Imrul, it should be Liton (unburdened of the keeper gloves) or Shanto, both of whom have shown promising performances at our FC leagues and handful of HP/A-team matches they have played so far.

3) Riyad has not been a superstar in our team. But as we know, he always does enough to stay in the team. He is hardly the weakest link in the team.

4) That brings us back to the thread topic - yes, Sabbir clearly is the weakest link in our Test batting line up. It's only nepotism, ie his being buddy-buddy with seniors, I suspect is what brought him back in the team.